Overview

Why should the glitz of a cocktail bar or the excitement of a disco just be for adults? Children too can experience these delights, only with Smarties taking the place of alcoholic beverages, and where these are shared with your mates rather than used to help chat up members of the opposite sex. This is the Smarties Place, where “things are happening”; which had been, a decade earlier, Smartie Land, where “you know your dreams will all come true”.

This is one of a large collection of films made by Rowntree’s of York (now Nestlé), most of which are adverts for their confectionary products. This advert would have been made before the concerns over the use of additives emerged in the 1990s, with later studies linking e-numbers to hyperactivity in children and other health issues. Eventually Nestlé removed the blue coloured Smarties, which contained these in 2006. They have subsequently re-introduced blue Smarties, now coloured with a seaweed extract called spirulina, which is claimed to be full of vitamins and minerals. 17,000 Smarties are still consumed every minute.

Who could deny these advertising claims: "Attractive hair is the ambition of every woman", and "Your family will enjoy Lincoln potatoes"?

About the archive

The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.